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Cardiac Vagal Tone and Emotion Regulation

Cardiac Vagal Tone and Emotion Regulation. OCRF Ellen Cohan ’10 Ebony Burton ‘11 Mentor: Nancy Darling Oberlin College Psychology Department. Outline. Vagal Tone Transitions in Adolescent Relations Project My Research Question Results. Vagal Tone.

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Cardiac Vagal Tone and Emotion Regulation

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  1. Cardiac Vagal Tone and Emotion Regulation OCRF Ellen Cohan ’10 Ebony Burton ‘11 Mentor: Nancy Darling Oberlin College Psychology Department

  2. Outline • Vagal Tone • Transitions in Adolescent Relations Project • My Research Question • Results

  3. Vagal Tone • The vagus nerve is the tenth cranial nerve. It acts as a bridge between the brain and the heart. • Vagal tone is impulses sent by the vagus nerve to inhibit heart beat. • Vagal tone acts as a brake for the heart • This brake is activated during expiration and inhibited during inspiration.

  4. Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia • Definition: variability in heartbeat during inspiration and expiration • Measure: milliseconds between heartbeats

  5. High vagal tone: high variability in heart rate • Low vagal tone: low variability in heart rate

  6. Vagal Tone • Two distinct measures: • Baseline : RSA at rest • Baseline-to-task : RSA variation from rest to engaging task • Social interaction • Stressful activity

  7. Implications of Vagal Tone • High vagal tone • Better equipped to handle stressful situations • Low Vagal tone • More likely to be controlled by physiology

  8. Implications of Vagal Tone • High Vagal Tone vs. Low Vagal Tone • Infants • Children • Adults • Emotional Regulation • Fight vs. Flight

  9. Transitions in Adolescent Relations Project • Part of larger study conducted by Nancy Darling • Places where research has been conducted • Oberlin • Miami • New York • Pennsylvania • Italy • Philippines • Chile

  10. Transitions in Adolescent Relations Project What we were measuring • Parent-child conflict and communication • Legitimacy of parental authority • Emotion regulation

  11. Methods: Recruitment • Rising 5th, 6th and 7th graders • From Langston Middle School Website: http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/ndarling/tarp/

  12. Study Protocol • Participant rights • IRB, Confidentiality, etc. • Self-report surveys • i.e. rules, child’s behavior and mother’s parenting, conflict management, depression scale, attachment style, etc. Paper products used for the study

  13. Study Protocol • Calming Music Task • Video Recorded Tasks • K’Nex Task • Conflict Task

  14. Study Protocol • Video Recall

  15. Study Protocol • Objective Video Coding • K’Nex Task (ie. enjoyment, control, help-providing, use of help) • Conflict Task (ie. warmth, help-seeking (child), moralizing, seriousness, verbal aggression) • Participant Rating Forms

  16. Study Protocol • Physiological Data: • Salivary assays • Protocol: 3 samples • Salivary Alpha Amylase • Cortisol

  17. Study Protocol • Physiological Data: • Heart Rate Data • Biolog setup • Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA)

  18. Biolog Setup:

  19. Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia • Definition: variability in heartbeat during inspiration and expiration • Measure: milliseconds between heartbeats

  20. Ellen’s research question! • Concordance: • Is vagal tone passed down through the parents? • How similar is mother-adolescent vagal tone: • Baseline • Task • Baseline-to-task

  21. Past research on vagal concordance • “Child and Mother Cardiac Vagal Tone: continuity, stability and concordance across the first five years” by Marc H. Bornstein and Patricia E. Suess • Baseline RSA not concordant • Baseline-to-task concordant for both 2-months and 5-years

  22. My Results • Baseline RSA correlation: .21! • Low, but positive

  23. Ebony’s results – which were cooler than mine • High vagal tone in mother: • No lecturing • Warm child • High vagal tone in a child: • Neither one lectures • Both are less verbally aggressive • Moms and children with high vagal tone • Less sensitive moms

  24. Thank You • OCRF office • Nancy Darling • My adoring audience • My mom

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